On Monday sports betting firm SportPesa announced a new sponsorship deal that will see Football Kenya Federation and the Kenyan Premier League together with Gor Mahia and AFC Leopards get a 3 year sponsorship deal worth Sh682million.
For the next three years Gor Mahia will get Sh198,607,000, AFC Sh156,406,403 and KPL Sh259,712,000.The goal here is to improve the standards of local football.
Speaking to the media after the announcement SportPesa Chief Executive Officer (CEO)Ronald Karauri said that they chose to renew some of the contracts that they would be able to managed following the change in taxation by the government.
The government says it has been involved in the signing of the new contracts with Sports Principal Secretary Peter Kaberia saying they will ensure that each party gets its fair share of value from the contract without disruption.
“We have not renewed some of the contracts we had but we decided to choose some of the few we had because the taxation has changed so we need to support the ones we think we can sustain as long as the tax remains as it is,” SportPesa Chief Executive Officer Ronald Karauri announced.
“Despite the economic policy setbacks we have suffered over the past few months, we remain committed to supporting local sports as much as we can.”said Ronald Karauri announced.
The domestic league will now revert to been called SportPesa Premier League and each of the 18 clubs will get Sh270,000 as monthly grants.
Gor chairman Ambrose Rachier who is also the KPL chairman called on corporates to come to their rescue whilst thanking the new development by sportpesa.
“I thank SportPesa profusely for coming back despite the heavy taxation, it has been a difficult time at KPL involving 18 clubs thus we’ve to appreciate despite the reduction in amounts”said Ambrose Rachier
The FKF boss Nick Mwendwa thanked sportpesa to returning back saying it was a relief for the Kenyan football.
“I want to applaud SportPesa for coming back. It is a relief and we want to encourage them to do more in the long run. I also want to thank the ministry for coming on board because it has not been happening before.”said Nick Mwendwa
